Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Author Interview: James S. Dorr

As Martinus Publishing has some new contributing authors,
I'll be conducting interviews to help promote their anthologies/works. Today, I'm interviewing James S. Dorr, an
exceptional author who contributed the short story Avoid Seeing a Mouse
to "Altered America." Thank
you for taking the time to be interviewed.

MTI: Starting off,
could you tell our readers a little bit about yourself?

JAMES S. DORR: I was born in
Florida, grew up in New Jersey, went to school in Massachusetts, and currently
live in Indiana, which pretty well covers the area east of the
Mississippi. I am a short fiction writer
and poet with nearly 400 credits both recognizable and obscure, from Alfred
Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine to Yellow Bat Review. I also have four collections published, Strange
Mistresses: Tales of Wonder and Romance and Darker Loves: Tales of
Mystery and Regret from Dark Regions Press; the all-poetry Vamps (A
Retrospective) from Sam’s Dot/White Cat; and most recently The Tears of
Isis from Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing, of which I may speak a bit
more later. I’ve also had some training
in art, worked on set design in theatre - these being back in college days -
and currently play tenor recorder and lead a Renaissance music group.

MTI: Now, getting down to business; what first compelled
you to weave fiction, and what's your favorite type of story to write?

JSD: I did quite a bit of writing for college
publications, along with occasional illustrating and cartooning and, as a
graduate, was editor at one point of a campus arts magazine. From there I went into technical
writing/editing, but, losing that job during the Reagan Recession of the ‘80s,
went into freelancing primarily real estate, consumer, and business
topics. However I had been a science
fiction fan and had also toyed with amateur fiction so, recession ended, I got
a “regular” job and started to put my writing activity primarily into fiction
and poetry. By that time I was also more
hooked on darker approaches so, while I still do occasional sf (as well as
mystery - and lots of crossing genres) most of my writing today falls
into horror/dark fantasy

MTI: Tell me, if
you had to pick just one author who has influenced or inspired you, who would
it be?

JSD: If only one, I would have to say Ray Bradbury
who, harking to my answer just before, also bridged both science fiction and
horror. But I would also add Edgar Allan
Poe as an early influence and, expanding the range a bit, the poet Allen
Ginsberg and German playwright Bertolt Brecht in terms of technique as well as
subject.

MTI: Your story, Avoid
Seeing a Mouse, appears in Altered America, an anthology of alternate
histories. The fictional accounts in
this collection let us imagine what it would be like if something had happened
differently at different points in history.
Tell us a little about how your story changes history.

JSD: At midnight on New Year’s Eve, 1999, the
Egyptian gods return to Earth - or more specifically Memphis, Tennessee for
starters - and not the nicest of their deities either. While we’d thought the worst thing that could
happen would be our computers going haywire.
Of course, though, it’s more complicated than that, bringing in a
one-night-only wrestling exhibition in the Pyramid Arena, “Cat Country” at the
Memphis Zoo, a solar eclipse, and a romantic breakup over a mouse that’s been
spotted in the Pink Palace Museum.

MTI: If you could
go back in time and try to change any one historical event (aside from killing
Hitler/stopping WWII-almost everybody tries that), which would you choose?

JSD: I would try to have someone whisper in
President Nixon’s ear not to end the Apollo moon landing program but, instead,
to let NASA build on it. Perhaps by now
we'd have people on Mars.

MTI: Indeed, the space
program has not lived up to its potential.
Conversely, name a historical event that you would never want to see
changed/would go back in time to stop somebody from changing it.

JSD: The Buddha Gautama’s meditation beneath the
bodhi tree. No, I’m not a Buddhist, and
yes, things that happened hundreds of years before Christ are (to say the
least) not well-documented, and individual events may be distorted by many
retellings or even made up. But
Siddhartha Gautama himself does appear to be historical and, in some way,
presumably came up with what became the “Noble Truths” of Buddhism. These principles subsequently spread from the
India-Nepal border to cover the world, at the least in proclaiming that there’s
such a thing as moderation - and that moderation is okay. From this may come much of the teaching of
Jesus (caravans constantly crossed through the Near East) and hence at least
the more peaceful parts of Christianity.
Also from this comes the possibility that people can compromise rather
than fight, something we might do well to remember more often today.

MTI: Shifting back
to your writing, can you tell us a little about what you're working on right
now?

JSD: These are, indeed, exciting times! I mentioned before that we might come back to
my new collection, The Tears of Isis.
As it happens it is now an official 2014 Bram Stoker Award® nominee for
superior achievement in a Fiction Collection, which even though the competition
against it is fierce, could conceivably win.
(Hey, moderation doesn’t mean we can’t still have contests - just that
we try to be friendly about them!) So
much of my time has been involved with the awards, reading other people’s work
including in other categories, deciding which works I’ll vote on myself, and
now as voting ends making plans to get to World Horror Convention in Portland,
Oregon where the winners will be announced.
And with that, trying to keep a high profile for The Tears of Isis
as well as keeping in touch with the publisher for any plans he might have for
extra publicity.

MTI: Other than
your story appearing in Altered America, do you have any other works being
published in the near future?

JSD: And yet life goes on. The biggest news is I have a new story,
inspired by a tour I took at last year’s World Horror Convention in New
Orleans, speculating about a sort of local historical urban legend which has
been accepted by Daily Science Fiction.
The story itself is a short horror tale titled “Casket Girls” and, while
I don’t have a publication date yet, readers can subscribe to DSF for
free at http://dailysciencefiction.com (whereupon one can also search on
my name in their archives for two more stories). Then, earlier this month, I’ve just had two
zombie stories accepted as reprints by Big Pulp and The Pun Book of
Horror, respectively, “Cold, Lifeless Fingers” and “Olé Bubba and the Forty
Steves.”

MTI: On a lighter
note, have you watched any good television lately?

JSD: Oddly enough, with a season of new horror or
horror-related TV shows, I haven’t really watched any of them. I tend more to watch news and documentaries,
the latter partly for ideas, then kick back sometimes and watch DVDs later at
night. (Two exceptions, though, I do
make a point of watching The Daily Show and The Colbert Report on
the Comedy Channel when I can - horror enough in their own ways sometimes.)

MTI: What sort of
music do you enjoy?

JSD: For listening, jazz (particularly traditional
New Orleans style, as well as the “cool” jazz of the 1950s and after); for
playing, Renaissance dance music.

MTI: What are three
of your favorite movies?

JSD: First, Nosferatu,
the original German expressionistic silent with Max Schreck and still the
creepiest adaptation of Dracula made (one warning, though - some cheaper
DVDs are truncated American versions with about a half hour cut out); second, La
Horde, a French film about corrupt police officers having to join forces
with gangsters they’d first come to kill when a zombie apocalypse breaks out in
Paris, both scary and funny, ultra-violent,
and, even though none of the characters are particularly likeable,
strangely engaging; and third, Cabin in the Woods, a deconstruction of
certain horror movie clichés revealing their mythical underpinnings and how
what these hide can be far more frightening.

MTI: You have the
attention of potential readers? In
conclusion, do you happen to have any words of wisdom to share with them?

JSD: Let this be a plug for Altered America
too: If you enjoy an author who’s in an
anthology, buy the book if you can.
Assuming you also enjoy the concept, chances are you’ll like the other
stories with it. If so, then tell your
friends about it - and lending it to a friend is okay too, but ask them, if
they like it, to tell their friends about it as well. Also, if you really enjoy a book,
consider writing a review.

Then for readers who might
want to know a bit more about me, I have a blog at http://jamesdorrwriter.wordpress.com
. All are welcome to stop by and explore
around and, should the spirit move them, leave comments.

MTI: Excellent
advice! Thank you for the excellent
interview, Mr. Dorr. For those who want
to check out his story and many other Alternate Histories, pick up a copy of
Altered America.

Martin thanks, it looks good! I've put up a notice on my blog too and I'll check back here from time to time tonight so, if anyone wants to leave a comment or ask a question, maybe I can take a stab at answering it.

About The Author

Martin T. Ingham is a writer of Science Fiction & Fantasy living in the wilds of rural Maine. He is also the Senior Editor for the small press, Martinus Publishing, and his work has appeared in numerous print anthologies.
Be sure to visit http://www.martiningham.com to learn more about his writing exploits.